RICHMOND—The say that quarterback is the glamour position in the NFL and there is plenty of evidence to back that up including the paychecks signal callers get. But it takes a lot of work to get to the glitzy part.

Yesterday Jay Gruden emphasized that they way quarterbacks become great, or even good, is by doing the same thing over and over. “Repetition. Reps, reps, reps,” the former college and arena league QB said. “You can never have too many reps.”

The Redskins incumbent signal caller agrees. “It’s just the norm,” said Robert Griffin III. “Every quarterback needs reps. No quarterback likes to go into a year with no reps.”

“Everyone has to work hard, everyone needs reps to be successful, so I’m glad to be able to come into training camp and without having to worry about reps. I know I’m going to get them.”

Last year, of course, Griffin was hampered by the knee injury he had suffered in January during the Redskins’ playoff loss to Seattle. At times there were public wars of words between Griffin and Mike Shanahan about getting reps in camp and in preseason games. We know who won those wars. Griffin didn’t get any 11 on 11 reps until very late in training camp.

During Thursday’s practice, much of which was held in a steady, moderate rain, Griffin showed that he and the offense have more work to do. “As an offense we weren’t as efficient as we wanted to be today,” he said. “So, it’s a good thing to have to work through the rain and have to throw those wet footballs.”

While this portion of the year can get to be tedious, Griffin knows that they have to get through it to get to the real fun part of football. “We have to get through the grind or as we like to call it the ‘find’ through camp—find out who is going to be the playmakers for us and move on from there.”

It’s a matter of desire. “As a quarterback, you have to have that fire in your heart that says when things are going wrong that you’re going to get it right,” said Griffin.

The Redskins have plenty of things they have to “get right” after last year’s 3-13 debacle. Griffin and the rest of the team had better be ready for some serious grinding.